1. Field of the Invention:
The present invention relates to an access point scan method and apparatus. More particularly, the present invention relates to a portable terminal and method for scanning Access Points (APs) with low power consumption in a sleep mode.
2. Description of the Related Art:
With the advance of information processing and semiconductor technologies, portable terminals are becoming powerful devices and widespread in today's living environment. These portable terminals (e.g. mobile phones) include lots of functions such as voice call functions, music player functions, text messaging functions, digital broadcast receiver functions, short range radio communication functions, and internet access functions. With the integration of diverse functions, the battery life of the portable terminal is becoming an important issue.
Meanwhile, the short range radio communication function is the function for use of Internet access service through a communication channel established with an Access Point (AP). In order to use the Internet access service, the portable terminal has to perform AP scan to discover APs around it when it powers on or the current communication channel is broken. The AP scan process is performed by the main process of the portable terminal at an AP scan period even when the portable terminal enters the sleep mode in the state where the short range radio communication function is activated (on). As aforementioned, the related art portable terminal is configured such that the main processor wakes up from the sleep mode to perform AP scan at the AP scan period, resulting in increase of power consumption. There is therefore a need of a method for reducing unnecessary power consumption for AP scan of the portable terminal in the sleep mode.
The above information is presented as background information only to assist with an understanding of the present disclosure. No determination has been made, and no assertion is made, as to whether any of the above might be applicable as prior art with regard to the present invention.